Thicker Than Blood
For their first adventure, Thalia Woodcrest, Evelyn Quinn, Tommy Li-Sung, Tristram Raith and Adrian Reed were called together to conduct an investigation, and to retrieve a mysterious item. Jiaoxi Wu – Dumpling House, Midtown, 1 PM As they arrived, one by one, they were led into a private dining room. Once all had arrived, Jiaoxi Wupo enters, and welcomes them. She introduces herself as a neutral party and explains why they are here. The previous night, there had been a Gathering. Each of the city’s major powers, and some minor ones, were there. The primary purpose of this Gathering was to welcome the newcomer and bring them tribute. The newcomer himself, Mr. Long, who had traveled to New York from China, was not present. In his stead, he sent his representative to receive the tribute. Among the other groups there, there was: A delegation from the Summer Court, Imogen Raith for House Raith accompanied by two guards, Ming-Xiao for the Hip Sing Tong with three guards, as well as Yorick with several guards. Other minor groups were there, as well as Jiaoxi Wupo and several of her attendants. During the Gathering, as it was Imogen Raith’s turn to present tribute, two of Ming-Xiao’s guards sprang into action. The first guard fired at Ming-Xiao, nicking her and causing her to reel back and fall. The other guard fired at Imogen hitting her in the hip and causing her to drop the box she was carrying: a rectangular wooden box carved with dragons and serpents. Jiaoxi Wupo had seen the eyes of the guards: they were wide-open and shocked. Before any more shots could be fired, before the box even had time to hit the ground, the first guard was cut down by the Summer Court delegation. The second was stopped in his place by Imogen Raith, who had raised one hand towards him and caused him to freeze in motion. Slowly, the man lifted his pistol, aimed it at his own head, and fired. Even though the action was over in seconds, the commotion that followed took a long time to resolve. Fingers and guns were pointed, several parties left, and the tribute that Raith had dropped had been discovered missing. Before any more fighting started, Mr. Long’s representative took charge, and stated that this was unacceptable. This chaos was an insult to Mr. Long, who would not co-operate with any of the cities powers until it was shown who had the nerve to stage an assassination attempt at this Gathering, and until his tribute was returned to him. Jiaozi Wupo was familiar to Mr. Long, and would be chosen to arbitrate the investigation, as she was known for her integrity. The Summer Court and House Raith would each provide agents for this venture, and Jiaozi Wupo could involve others as well. As Jiaozi Wupo finished explaining, the gang asked her questions. They found several leads: The two bodies of Ming-Xiao's dead bodyguards had been taken by the police and were certainly in the morgue. Ming-Xiao herself had been allowed to leave, and return to her territory, with the knowledge that if she was shown to be responsible, the full might of the other powers of the city would come down on her. The Gathering had taken place at Blue Smoke, one of Yorick’s many venues. Ming-Xiao’s third body guard was held there for questioning. Jiaozi Wupo wrapped up the meeting and wished the investigators good fortune. As she left, Tristram immediately tried to take charge, telling Tommy to take them to the morgue. Evelyn, suspicious of Tristram’s intention, spoke up and argued against him. After several back and forths, the group settled on going to Blue Smoke first, to talk to the surviving henchman and try to gleam some information out of him. Blue Smoke, Midtown, 2:30 PM As they arrived at the Blue Smoke, a cosy, southern-style BBQ restaurant, Adrian took a step away from the group and made a phone call to his contacts. The restaurant was closed, but the two thugs at the door were expecting them, and let them in. Inside the restaurant the servers were idly milling about, trying to stay out of the way of the armed men who were guarding the place. Further back in the restaurant, sitting at a table with two enormous body guards next to him, sat Yorick. Yorick was a huge man, all muscle, with dark skin and a shaven head. He wore a cream-color ed suit, in an old-fashioned style, with golden jewellery. Gruffly he greeted the gang and asked them how we could get them out of his hair the fastest. To start with, the gang went down to a secret sub-basement, where the third guard was being kept. As they came down, they saw one of Yorick’s men beating the living daylight out of the body guard and realized that he had probably been heavily interrogated during the night. As Yorick’s man left them alone with him, the man pleaded for water. Evelyn took pity on him and gave him some water, much to the displeasure of Tristram. Tristram tried to intimidate the henchman, who introduced himself as Bobby Cheng, but was met with limited success. It was not until Thalia knelt down and started talking to him that a calmness seemed to descend on him, and he opened up. When the line of questioning came close to his boss, Ming-Xiao, he closed up again, but with some encouragement from Thalia, he spoke of that as well. Bobby described that the two other guards, Walter and Gao, hadn’t been acting themselves the previous day. They had left after their usual lunch at Samir’s Cart, and came back later but wouldn’t say a word. He spoke of how they had been heading out to the Meat Packing District at night to moonlight, without Ming-Xiao’s knowledge. Bobby was loyal to Ming-Xiao, but he didn’t want to snitch on his friends, especially as he had seen what happened to those who slighted her. He revealed the address of the Hip Sing Tong safehouse where Ming-Xiao would most likely be. Their “interrogation” done, the gang moved on to the private dining room where the Gathering had held place. Adrian pressed Thalia on how she had made the henchman open up, that it was almost surreal how she had simply murmured a few phrases to him, and he just let it all out. Thalia deflected at first, but Tristram joined in, threating Thalia, wanting her to tell them how she did it. Thalia gave in, and told the truth: this was just how she had always been, she’s always had this power and she doesn’t quite understand why. As Thalia, Tristram and Adrian talked, Tommy investigated the Gathering place. The large dining room had been rearrange to create a circle in the middle, with a podium for a speaker to address the people gathered. There was blood on the floor, coagulated and sticky, not quite absorbed by the faux-wood paneling. Tommy noticed that someone had messily tried to clean up some of the blood, but had quickly given up. Intrigued, Tommy looked around the restaurant for any trash containers, and quickly found the bloodied clothing that had belonged to one of the dead henchmen. With a slash through it from shoulder to navel, the suit jacket was entirely drenched in sticky, coagulated blood. Searching through the pockets, Tommy found a wrapper from a sandwich or something similar, on which was printed “Samir’s Halal Cart, Lamb rice, Chicken rice, X-tra fresh” With a couple of new leads, the gang moved on to the Morgue. The NYPD Morgue, Midtown, 4PM As they made it over to the midtown Morgue, Tommy contacted one of his friends who worked there, Bob the mortician. Bob has once before let Tommy in to the morgue to investigate a body, and Tommy was certain he could convince him to do it again. With little enthusiasm, Bob let in the gang to look at the bodies of the two henchmen. The investigation of the bodies didn’t give much: one died from a gunshot to the head, the other had been cut down by some sort of bladed weapon, most likely a katana or some other kind of sword. Unusual, but not abnormal, and as the two men were clearly in the Tong (judging by their ethnicity and their tattoos), the case would surely be closed as just another gang killing. Looking over the body of Gao, who had been cut down with a sword, Tommy remembered the suit jacket that they had found at the Blue Smoke. He went to Bob and asked to see the men’s belongings, as well as their charts. Bob refused, but after some prodding and promises of never returning here again, Bob finally folded and provided Tommy with access to what he wanted. The charts simply confirmed what they already knew, providing no real clues. Their possessions, however, included a wallet stuffed with cash, cards and receipts. The receipts were mostly for cab rides, fast food, and the occasional bar tab, but among them were also several receipts to Devil’s Horn Tattoo Parlor, in the East Village. Content with their investigatory work, the gang decided to head to Samir’s Halal Cart and ask some questions. Tristram disagreed, and wanted to go check out Ming-Xiao, but was overruled. Samir’s Halal Cart, Central Park, 6PM As they arrived at Samir’s Halal Cart, they saw that a long line had already formed for people grabbing some after-work grub. Tristram disregarded the line entirely and walked up to Samir and tried to intimidate him. Samir was suitably intimidated, but didn’t entirely understand what Tristram wanted, remarking “Come on, you know how this works…”. As it became clear that this tactic was inefficient, Adrian approached and attempted to bribe Samir. Plopping down two 100-dollar bills that promptly disappeared into Samir’s hand, Adrian inquired about Gao and Walter. Samir just smiled and said “Now you’re my favorite customer!” and proceeded to build the largest döner kebab he had ever made, for Adrian. The line to the cart was starting to become impatient. One man piped up, “Hey, whatsamatta?!” Tommy immediately spat back “Hey, get outta ‘ere”. Sensing a shakedown, the line slowly dispersed, as the gang continued to press Samir. Thalia attempted to make him open up, but he refused to sell out his regulars. Finally, Samir recognized Tommy as a cop, and started packing up his cart in a panic. Tommy leaned on him, hard, telling him that he was indeed a cop, and that the only way to get rid of him would be to spill the beans on Walter and Gao, and anything else Samir knew about what was going on. Samir finally opened up, and explained that Walter, Gao and Bobby were regulars of his whenever he stopped by at Chinatown with his cart (usually Tuesdays, sometime Mondays). Walter and Gao had been complaining about their second job at the Meat Packing District. On the day of the Gathering, Walter and Gao had grabbed lunch with Bobby. As Bobby had to take a call, a woman had approached Walter and Gao and talked to them. She wore a hoodie but had long dark hair that was impossible to miss. The three of them were too far away for Samir to catch any of the conversation, but after a few exchanged words, they called over a taxi and left. Immediately, the gang checked the receipts from the wallet they got at the morgue. Sure enough, at slightly past lunchtime on the day of the murder, there was a taxi stub for a trip from Chinatown to the Meat Packing District, with a stop to an address in the East Village first. Looking up the address online, the gang saw that it was the location of the Devil’s Horn Tattoo Parlour. The gang grabbed some food from Samir’s cart, which he happily provided “pro-bono” (or for the lean price of 200 dollars for 5 portions…), and then moved on. Next stop: Devil’s Horn. Devil’s Horn Tattoo Parlor, East Village, 8 PM As they arrived at Devil’s Horn, the place was almost empty. There was one guy getting a tattoo from young woman with dark brown hair and a band T-shirt. Two men were standing in a corner looking at tattoo albums, looking at different designs, and someone else seemed to be working in the back. Tommy tried to eavesdrop the two men in the corner, but their conversation was rather dull. The tattoo artist greeted the gang and asked what was going on, if all five of them wanted a tattoo or if they were friends. Adrian seemed to like the prospect of getting a tattoo, but first they would have to try to find out what was going out. Suspicious of the woman, the gang asked questions about Walter and Gao, who she recognized as regulars. Thalia attempted to judge the truth of her words, and as far as she could tell, she was being truthful when she said that she hadn’t seen Walter and Gao for a week. The gang asked her about Samir’s cart, and whether or not she or someone else here liked kebabs. She replied no but yelled the question into the back room. Another girl, Merissa, with black hair and a band t-shirt, poked her head out to see what was going on and nervously said that no, kebabs weren’t her thing. Sensing that she was hiding something, Tommy pressed the tattoo artist, accusing her of knowing more than she was telling. The other men in the parlor, sensing that something was up, got out of there and left the gang alone with the girl. The girl freaked out, sure now that the gang was involved with the police, and opened up: She ran a clean business, but some of her clients, like Gao and Walter, were gangbangers. She kept meticulous records of every tattoo, and never took bribes. She showed the gang her records and told them that she didn’t want any trouble. Disappointed, the gang asked if she had been to Chinatown around lunch on the day of the murder. The girl replied that she never went to Chinatown for lunch, but that on that day Merissa had headed out for a longer lunch. Tristram and Adrian immediately went to the backroom, but Merissa was already gone. Adrian called up his contacts to try to track her down. Before the gang moved on, Adrian chatted with the tattoo artist and decided to get a small tattoo. Devil’s Horn specialty tattoo was, of course, a stylized Devils Horns hand sign. As they waited for the tattoo to be finished, Adrian’s received a phone call confirming that a cab driver had driven a black-haired girl from the East Village to the Meat Packing District. The gang knew where they were headed next, and that they would probably need to suit up in case of a fight. Meat Packing District, 10 PM This late in the evening, the Meat Packing District was more or less desolate. As they made their away over to the address that they had gleamed from the taxi receipts, and confirmed with Adrian’s contact, they saw fewer and fewer people. No one hung around here, not even the homeless. Adrian had taken his time and reached out to his network, getting a hold of the blueprints for the warehouse that the address led to. Tommy made his way to the door and eavesdropped, listening for motion inside. He heard two men standing right by the door and several more moving around inside, with weapons. As the gang tried to decide their next course of action, Tristram told Thalia to be a good little girl and use her special powers to convince the guards at the door to divulge some information, or let them in. Thalia did not like this at all, and her temper flared up at Tristram treating her like a “little girl”. As he mouthed off on him, she quickly realized that the loudness with which she was speaking would make absolutely certain that the guards inside the door would be aware of them, removing any chance for an ambush. Despite Tristram, Thalia agreed that the best course of action would be for her to knock on the door and to try to incite trust in the guards on the other side. The group split up, with Thalia moving up to the door, Evelyn and Adrian hanging back on the other side of the street, and Tommy and Tristram moving up on the emergency exit on the right side of the building. Thalia knocked on the door, but there was no response. She tried the handle, and it was unlocked. As she opened it, she saw the two men inside: one with a baseball bat, the other with a pistol. She heard footsteps behind her as Evelyn sprinted towards her, and as the man raised his gun to shoot. Right before he fired, Thalia felt Evelyn's arm wrap around her from behind. Evelyn shouted out “''Gabhail!”, and Thalia heard the creaking of wood. In front of her was suddenly a wall of wood, into which the bullets thudded harmlessly. As the shots were fired, Tristram and Tommy sprang into action. The fire exit had no handle, but Tommy had brought along a crowbar, knowing that they may have to break in somewhere. As he forced the door open, Tristram lifted his pistol, pointing it at the two guards on the other side, and screamed at them, trying to intimidate them to leave. In response, the two men attacked. Back in front of the building, the fight was on. The two guard by the door were taken down, one by Thalia’s arrows, and one by Adrian’s Desert Eagle. Evelyn shouted “''Ghrèin!” and threw something bright and reflective into the building. Not a second later, an explosion of light came from within, blinding the two guards furthest in. Unlike Tristram, Tommy let his gun’s do the talking as he incapacitated one of the guards. Tristram took a shot at the other but was badly grazed by a shotgun blast. For a second he thought he had gone down, but Tristram was still standing. He felt a power surge within, and he somehow felt unstoppable. Evelyn, her shield now dropped, also took a bad hit from a shotgun. Her shoulder grazed, she kept fighting, trying to knock one of the guards down with her baton. Between Tommy’s guns, Thalia’s arrows, and Adrian’s oversized pistol, the last of the guards were taken down. The gang had won their first battle, but it had taken its toll. Evelyn looked worse for wear, her shoulder grazed and out of breath. Tristram’s skin had gone a shade paler and he was breathing heavily. Adrian and Tommy had narrowly avoided bad hits. In fact, the only person standing tall and untouched was Thalia, in no small way thanks to Evelyn’s shield.